


like lullabies

by chesamu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-07 10:18:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11621508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chesamu/pseuds/chesamu
Summary: i wanted to start again with youand i will leave all my worries herei wanted only you-yuna





	like lullabies

**Author's Note:**

> this literally came out of nowhere i'm just so hype for season three

She nodded, but just barely.

A signal that kinda just developed between them over time.

And Keith read it loud and clear. He leaned forward to kiss the Princess goodbye.

His mouth met with hers before he'd even taken her by the waist. Keith kissed Allura until she let out the faintest of hums and started to pull away. And then he swooned after her a little, meeting her mouth again before letting go. He nodded the hair out of his face and opened his eyes, strangely pleased with the starry look he left in Allura's. And the deep rosy flush to her cheeks.

It was a feeling he was still getting used to.

Allura hunched her shoulders just a bit. "Good luck," she said, her voice soft and laced with laughter.

"You too." Keith cleared his throat. His own voice sounded hoarse to his ears. "Kick ass. As usual." And he watched the most beautiful person he's ever met turn on her heels and picked up her step, just before the doors to the control room shut in her wake.

Keith tried to settle the smile that threatened to spread across his face. He swung a fist gently into his palm, and brushed a hand over his buzzing mouth before running it over his hair. Then he brought his attention back to the group.

When Keith met Pidge's eyes, she immediately looked back down at her laptop. And when Keith met Lance's, he smirked.

Keith couldn't tell if the reaction was out of disgust or amusement, but he desperately wanted to sink into the floor.

Lance shook his head and took a long sip of his water as Keith made his way back over to the Black Lion's control seat.

Hunk was still preoccupied at his holoscreen schematics. He'd been there all morning.

"What?" Keith asked aloud in Lance's direction, a prickle of insecurity flashing across his brow as he sat down. Usually Lance's attempts to size him up didn't bother him. But when it came to Allura, everyone's did somehow.

If Lance thought Keith wasn't good enough for the Princess, then that was one of the rare sentiments Keith and the Red Lion's new Paladin had in common.

Lance poked out his cheek with his tongue. "Huh? Nothin." He rested a hand on his hip and gestured with his water bottle. "What do you mean?"

Keith shook his head. "Never mind."

Lance hummed curiously at him. "Hm." He thought. "I mean, still can't believe it, if that's what you mean." He scoffed a little.

"Lance..." That was Pidge. She gave him a warning quirk to her eyebrow, looking up again from her laptop.

"Can't believe what now?" That was Hunk. Looking up for just half a second from his work.

Hunk's voice was faint and distracted, his work weighing heavy on his mind. "That despite all of the data we've gathered on Lotor's whereabouts we still can't figure out what the hell he'll do next because he's too damn crafty and though we've never faced a villain so meticulous we haven't died out here yet despite the unspeakable odds?" He asked the question in one big rush. And then he took a long, anxious sip from his food-goo space smoothie.

Lance blinked at him. "What? No. I mean, well. Yes. That too." He paused. "You do know that we'll be fine. Right, Hunk? We can't die before winning the war. We're like ... the heroes of this story." He only winked when Hunk gave him the most unamused glance, and then continued. "Anyway, no. What I meant was. I'm still surprised to see Allura smacking all over Keith. It's weird —"

"I get it!" Keith started to say.

"— that they're actually pretty adorable? Thought I'd have barfed up my lungs by now." Lance took another sip of his water and looked over again at Keith. "Dude," he said after a moment. "Allura's been into you for like, how long? A month?"

Keith didn't really like to think about it. "I don't know? Why would I want to talk about that right now." He huffed and splayed out some holographic windows on his control panel. There was so much research left to do. If only he could formulate some sort of map of their current coordinates, hidden in the pocket of space, and start charting all of the possible spaces Lotor could be hiding.

"Either way. I can't be the only one still thrown off by this right?" Lance continued. And those words made Keith's stomach flip. "I mean. I don't get it? Like at all. But I guess, whatever makes Allura happy makes me happy." He shrugged like Keith wasn't in the room.

"To be honest?" Pidge agreed, after a moment. She looked over at Keith briefly and adjusted her glasses. "I knew Allura liked him the day she ran off with him in that starship, just to see if Zarkon had been tracking her. I mean. Allura knows as well as I do that isolating two variables at once only results in vague data."

Lance pointed at her. "True," he said. "Agreed, dude. That was like. The most obvious."

Keith grumbled loudly. And loosened his arms.

He'd never thought Pidge thought about things like this. Or Lance, for that matter. Or anyone.

Why were they even evaluating his relationship with Allura right now? Was he fucking up? Is that what they were trying to tell him?

"And then after that, I noted how often they seemed to cross paths. The frequency kinda rose exponentially." Pidge said, not much aiding Keith's passing wave of slight anxiety. She chuckled a bit at him. "You weren't exactly inconspicuous, Keith."

Lance tussled Pidge's hair as he walked past her and back over to his own chair. "Ew gross," he said with a teasing smile. "Were you analyzing them, Pidge?"

Pidge swatted his hand away. "No, I didn't actually chart the data, you donut hole. It's not like they were  _that_ interesting. I was just. Making an observation for Allura's sake." She pouted and lifted her chin. "Besides. I analyze everything."

"Oh yeah. Me too," Hunk said, suddenly distracted from his work again. "But I have you beat, Pidge. I knew the day we arrived here that those two were gonna hit it off. Like, remember when Keith got all heart eyed after Allura body-slammed Lance to the floor."

Pidge laughed. "That was fairly entertaining," she agreed.

"I didn't get  _body slammed_!" Lance protested. "She-she just." He poked out his cheek. Thought for a second. "Threw me off my game," he said finally, briefly raising his water bottle at his conclusion.

Pidge only laughed again, and made a strange face at Keith. "Aha," she said. "I guess Allura threw Keith off his game too."

And that won a bit of laughter from Hunk. Followed up by a faint snort from Lance.

"Okay, can we just? Talk about something else?" Keith exasperated. "I didn't want to talk about this at all, and I don't want to talk about this anymore." He ran a hand through his mop of hair once more. "We have a lot of work to do, you guys. Allura isn't the only one with an important mission today. We've gotta figure out how to get ahead of Lotor in this fight, or this horrible war will just go on forever."

He hated this. Couldn't they just wait until he was out of the room to talk about him and Allura? So embarrassing. Their prying made him feel like a specimen under a microscope.

"Hey, man. I've been trying to figure out his algorithm all morning," Hunk reminded Keith. "Maybe Lotor just. Picks from a hat where he's gonna strike next. I dunno."

"Yeah!" That was Lance. "Or like. Roles some fuzzy purple dice, or something."

Pidge laughed softly and shook her head. "Alright, guys. Keith's right, let's get back to work. We gotta focus. We really are running out of time."

"Thank you, Pidge," Keith muttered in her direction, gratefully.

"I mean, if we do nothing, Keith's girlfriend is gonna come home and think Keith is a lazy ass!" Pidge added at that.

"Damn ... true? Can't let that happen," Lance replied. That hint of amusement to his voice again.

"Don't worry, Keith." That was Hunk again. "By the time you reunite with your girlfriend, we'll have good news to share with her about our progress, Chief." He saluted him.

Keith only growled loudly under his breath. He hunched himself over his holopanel, and ignored his teammates.

Pidge chuckled for a while, but then dug back into her work. And only then did Lance follow suit. And then Hunk of course.

Keith could feel the heat in his ears travel down his neck.

This was so embarrassing. God.

If only he was better at handling this sort of thing. More like the prodigy he was when it came to Lion piloting, and identifying rock formations, and things like that.

Why was he so terrible at talking about his relationships with other people?

Especially really pretty beautiful people?

Somehow though, Keith's teammates making fun of him put him surprisingly ease. He couldn't be angry with these nerds — though he definitely wanted to be. And maybe that's what friendship was all about.

Thing is. He did really like Allura. Like. Really really.

It made him all soft and melty inside. But also tense and kinda, well. Excited. Sometimes too excited.

But, he guessed, it was kind of validating to know that the others could pick up on that. Even if they really could just mind their damn business, being told they thought Allura liked him still mattered a lot.

In fact, the thought still sent chills up Keith's spine.

No matter how many times he realized Allura liked him, it still made him quake a bit.

Another sensation he was still getting used to. 

If Lance, Hunk and Pidge were his friends, then they were insufferable.

But, of course. He wouldn't have it any other way.

 

 

✧

 

That night, Keith ran a tentative hand over Allura's hair.

Her silver curls were tangled in starlight. And its texture was just as surreal.

He had been glad enough she arrived back at the castle in one piece. And only happier when she offered to rest with him for the night. Being 'so dreadfully fatigued after her operation with the Blade, she might not have the strength to lift a blanket' and all.

But even with Allura safe in his arms, and him safe by her side, Keith found it impossible to settle down. It still made him tense up in fact, to have this much of the Princess to himself.

She trusted him.

And for some reason, that made his chest ache.

Allura carried the fragrance of wild flowers. Her small figure curled up snugly in his blanket. (Which she had completely hogged. He'd meant for them to share it, but what did he expect from someone who was a Princess.)

Her head rested against his chest. And her fingers clenched delicately beneath her chin.

It was like ... having an angel fall asleep in his lap. And feeling too afraid of making the wrong move lest he ruined her wings.

But Keith had to try anyway — his shoulder was kind of coming out of place.

He shifted his position according to hers, and easily rested his back against the sloped metal ear of the Black Lion. Much more comfortable now, he allowed himself to unwind. He tried to steady his breathing so that it fell in rhythm to the rise and fall of Allura's chest. But his heart was kicking too fast to settle anything. And thinking about her movements only made it worse.

So he thought about something else. He was glad fate granted them another day.

In this war, there was just no knowing which one was going to be your last.

Keith took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He was getting tired now, and usually he dreaded that feeling. But right now, he didn't.

Maybe he'd even have good dreams out here, sitting atop the Black Lion.

The setting reminded him of similar evenings back on Earth, out in the Arizona desert. The air on this planet tasted a lot like the summer winds back home on his tongue. It was nice.

Much nicer than nightmares.

And it was much nicer to be out here with Allura than it was to watch the stars alone.

Keith looked out into space again. His dark eyes glittered in reflection of all the far away worlds shimmering right back.

Back at him ... and Allura. And for a second, he couldn't stop thinking about that phrase.

Him and Allura.  _And Allura and Allura and Alura._

Everything about his life seemed to be followed with her name these days.

And as if summoned by his thoughts, the Princess then moved a bit in her sleep.

Her chin fell forward, causing her hair to hang over her face. So Keith carefully and slowly lifted it again. Then he wrapped his arm around her a little tighter to keep her in position. Allura hummed a bit in response, and nuzzled her face into his shirt, making his heart stop for just a second. Her fingers sleepily clenched the fringe of his jacket and then loosened again.

Keith let out a hitched breath, and relaxed once she'd settled.

Then he stared out into the expanse for moment. He couldn't help but feel pretty damn lucky right now.

What a twist of fate.

The one person he never guessed would have accepted half of his life story, somehow became even more than a friend in a miraculously short amount of time. Keith smiled at Allura fondly, and gently ran a hand over her hair again. Then he leaned back, and let his eyes close for real.

He had never felt this safe or at home out here. Not since leaving Earth. Not since Shiro. Not since ... well. The feeling came and went over the years.

Feeling this way with Allura ... it was something he was still getting used to. 

But it was becoming his favorite part of all of this.

Second only to kissing her in the heat of battle and getting the gift of being kissed right back.

Keith smiled faintly as the silence of the night air lulled him to sleep.

Soon reality and his dreams started to mesh into the same realm.

He saw the shadow of Allura. And then the shadow of himself. A silhouette of the two of them. Fighting back to back. They were saving families. They were winning the war. They were together. And they were unstoppable. 

And maybe.

They were even in love.


End file.
